This invention relates to automatic apparatus for feeding and for assemblying components of articles; and more particularly to apparatus for feeding and for assemblying wieners and holder sticks in the processing of a corn dog product.
This invention is particularly concerned with the manufacture of or processing of a food product known as a "corn dog"; which product is made from a wiener having a holder stick inserted into one end, which is coated with a cornmeal batter, for example, and which is cooked by means of frying in deep fat for example.
A principal object of this invention is to provide improved apparatus for the automatic feeding of and assembly of wieners and holder sticks for use in an automatic machine for the complete processing of corn dogs, including batter coating and frying.
Another object of this invention is to provide such apparatus to enable the rapid processing of a large number of corn dogs.
A further object of this invention is to provide such apparatus which is reliable and durable, and subject to minimum down time for adjustments or for correcting malfunctions.
Still another object is to provide such apparatus which is efficient and easy to use.
A still further object of this invention is to provide such apparatus for the automatic feeding of wieners to a clamping mechanism, and for the automatic clamping of the wieners to enable the insertion thereof of holder sticks.
Still another object of this invention is to provide such apparatus including means for the automatic clamping of wieners to enable the insertion therein of holder sticks, and for holding the assembled wieners and holder sticks for subsequent pickup by suitable transport apparatus of an automatic machine.
A further object of this invention is to provide such apparatus for the automatic insertion of holder sticks from a stick hopper into suitably secured wieners; and to provide for the automatic feeding of holder sticks into the stick hopper from a shipping carton in which such sticks are supplied.
Apparatus for accomplishing these objects includes the following components. A wiener hopper for containing a quantity of wieners includes a floor and a plurality of transversely spaced dividers defining guide channels for vertical stacks of single wieners. A plunger assembly including a plunger aligned with each guide channel is reciprocable to expel the lowermost wiener from each hopper guide channel. A clamping assembly has a plurality of left and right clamp halves, selectively opened and closed, defining clamping chambers for receiving wieners expelled from the wiener hopper. A stick hopper for containing a plurality of sticks includes a base panel and a plurality of transversely spaced dividers defining guide channels for single vertical rows of sticks. A push rod assembly includes a plurality of push rods, aligned with the wiener clamping chambers, for expelling the lowermost stick from each stick hopper guide channel and inserting those sticks partially into the several wieners in the wiener clamping chambers. More particularly, a stick feeding mechanism, associated with the stick hopper, feeds a single generally horizontal row of sticks from a supply box into the stick hopper .